


been kind of hoping you might

by jinxfabray



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Uni AU, Vague mentions of sex, also as always its always lowercase, hovering over sehun like protective seagulls, stop capitalism, the rest barely got lines bc i am bad at writing so many characters but they are all there, very background chansoo and kaixing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 08:54:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11010117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinxfabray/pseuds/jinxfabray
Summary: baekhyun doesn't want to hold hands with sehun. he's just curious about what it would feel like.





	been kind of hoping you might

**Author's Note:**

  * For [youaresuchasunshine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youaresuchasunshine/gifts).



> HELLO WELCOME TO MY CRIBS  
> a few notes  
> 1) THIS FIC IS FOR AYE THANK U FOR EXISTING I LOVE U I HOPE U LIKE IT  
> 2) thanks to sara for always being the best sister any human could ever have, to clo for being my ultimate cheerleader and to fefa for solving a crucial plot point for me  
> 3) if you've read my xiuchen drabbles, this is in that same uni but xiuchen aren't living together yet so it's post the one where they started dating but pre the other two  
> 4) i probably did very poorly on my use of honorifics and so on but i promise i am trying to learn i will be better at it but spanish is so ridiculously informal it's kind of a leap

“so you slept with sehun,” jongdae states, and baekhyun nearly jumps over the bar to put a hand on his mouth while shushing him loudly.

“do you want everyone to hear? i feel terrible about it,” he says, but the spark in his eyes betrays the obvious lie. plus, jongdae has known him for way too long to believe anything he says - ever. it’s a testament to how long they’ve been friends that baekhyun isn’t even bothered by him licking his hand, he just removes it and wipes it on his pants like it’s nothing.

“no, you don’t,” jongdae says once baekhyun gets his hand off his mouth, going back to the register to pick up the orders jongin’s waving at him because there’s other people in line and most of them look like they really need the caffeine, unlike baekhyun, who should never be let exist near it, let alone ingest the stuff.

“i really don’t,” baekhyun grins, and jongdae should tell him off for taking up space on the counter when he’s not even paying for his hot chocolate, but joonmyun isn’t around to give them his characteristic  _ i’m disappointed in you _ looks, with serious eyebrows and deep sighs that actually make jongdae feel bad every now and then, so he lets him be.

“i don’t actually want to ask how it was because i know you’ll get really graphic and we’re in public,” jongdae says as he neatly writes down some girl’s name on a cup before filling it with his best vanilla latte. “but. you know. how was it?”

“well,” baekhyun starts, resting his chin on his hand and looking into the air thoughtfully.

“sehun’s like my brother, you know,” jongin pre-empts from the register, and baekhyun gives him an annoyed look. jongdae doesn’t even bother acknowledging him because every human being on earth knows sehun and jongin weren’t /always/ like brothers, but if jongin wants to act like a saint now he won’t call him on his bluff. he owes him that much, and a lot more, really, after all the shifts jongin’s covered for him when jongdae was drowning in unfinished papers and being haunted by deadlines and finals. jongin’s dance academy is very demanding, but he’s so effortlessly good he’s been managing to pull through his first year without having more than one or two breakdowns so far. jongdae, on the other hand - well. he could use some sleep, and a very, very long vacation. 

“so?” he asks, sipping his chocolate like he doesn’t know jongin would rather die than have to hear them talk about sehun like that. jongdae knows for a fact jongin only kind of regrets having introduced them to his friends, but if this conversation goes on he’s gonna regret it forever and also possibly stick something in baekhyun’s eye.

“don’t be cruel,” jongdae rolls his eyes at baekhyun as he puts prepares the next coffee with the expertise of someone who’s been doing this for what feels like centuries. “how did it even happen though? we haven’t even gone out lately or anything.”

"oh no, we were at his place watching tv and kyungsoo was making dinner-” baekhyun starts, and jongdae stops mid steaming milk, eyes wide open.

“please tell me kyungsoo wasn’t there,” he says, but the way baekhyun’s turning pink makes him grimace even as he says it. “you’re gonna get sehun kicked out.”

“he was in his room and we ended up in sehun’s,” baekhyun waves his hand around to illustrate just how little importance kyungsoo has in this scenario. “anyway, so we were watching tv and he had a leg thrown over mine and i was cold so i scooted up closer, right,” baekhyun pauses and jongdae nods because sure, of course baekhyun would take any excuse to cuddle up to anyone he’s got near him. “so then he said something dumb and i punched his shoulder and he pretended to be hurt so i was like, aw, poor baby, and i went in to kiss him where i’d punched him as a joke, obviously, but he was offended because i’d called him a baby and he was turning around to say that so i kind of ended up kissing him on the mouth.”

“sure, that sounds all very natural and unavoidable,” jongdae says. he’s known baekhyun for long enough to just roll with these things because they really are very casual for him, even if they don’t sound like stuff that happens in real life to anyone ever.

“so you know, we kissed and then kyungsoo walked in and said something that sounded a lot like get a room, and it just seemed like a pretty great idea,” baekhyun shrugs.

“hm,” jongdae nods noncommittally, and he’s handing some cute boy his espresso when minseok comes out of the kitchen, patting his back gently.

“i’ll take over here, please go look over your pastries?” he says as he walks past him, tying his apron behind his back. 

“they’re not /my/ pastries since we baked them together, but sure, i’ll go look,” jongdae grins, taking a step closer to help him out with the apron and taking the chance to drop a kiss on his cheek because he can. 

“we get it, you’re cute, don’t rub it in our faces,” baekhyun whines loudly. minseok laughs and greets him before getting started on the order jongdae was just about to make, while jongdae tries to swat at his shoulder from behind the bar.

“wanna come with and tell me the dirty details?” he asks him once he’s managed to slap baekhyun’s shoulder once, and baekhyun jumps down from his chair, sliding straight into a tiny victory dance.

they’ve been in this exact same position so many times since they started college - baekhyun on the counter, his feet dangling above the ground, telling some wild story about whoever he managed to make out with over the weekend while jongdae bakes on, giving baekhyun his entire attention always because his hands are so used to mixing ingredients he barely has to look down at the bowl anymore. something feels different about it this time, though, and jongdae waits patiently for baekhyun to resume speaking while he makes sure the pastries aren’t quite done yet.

“do you think jongin is upset about me and sehun for real?” baekhyun asks when he finally speaks.

“what,” jongdae says, slightly startled. “no, god, they weren’t serious ever and jongin’s so ridiculously smitten with that chinese friend of minseok’s i’m honestly shocked he remembers sehun or any of us exists,” he says shaking his head vehemently. 

“oh,” baekhyun says like he’s giving it some thought, and jongdae can’t help but laugh.

“i honestly believe it’s just that not everyone is cool with hearing detailed stories of their friends’ sexual activities,” he says, and it makes baekhyun laugh and break out of the very serious mode he’d gone into for a second there. something in jongdae’s chest loosens a little, as it always does when he makes baekhyun laugh like that.

“shut up, it’s not that weird,” baekhyun swings a foot in his general direction but doesn’t put enough energy into it to actually kick him. “i don’t have to tell you about it if you think it’s weird,” he says looking at jongdae with something that’s between a challenge and pure honesty, and jongdae knows he could say he passes on this one and it would be absolutely fine.

“don’t be dense and just tell me, these are gonna be done soon,” he says as he drops from kneeling in front of the oven to sitting on the floor right on the same spot, getting himself comfortable as baekhyun grins and starts telling him the story again, for real this time.

 

 

(sehun does tell jongin about it. they’re marathoning daredevil and in the moment of silence between finishing one episode and starting up the next one, he says “i hooked up with baekhyun.”

jongin has to finish chewing on his pizza before he can say anything.

“oh,” he says, and sehun shrugs his shoulders. matt murdock is on the screen again, so that puts an end to the conversation.)

 

 

 

 

it’s not a very wild party, but sehun is beyond okay with that. house parties can be either ridiculously savage, with everyone getting wasted beyond logic and then forgetting half of what they did the morning after, or they can be - this. in the kitchen there’s chanyeol and jongdae and some other people sehun’s not sure he knows, but they all gathered in there the second chanyeol dared jongdae to bake something edible with whatever he finds in the cabinets. since it’s chanyeol’s house, sehun figures he thought he was being smart because he doesn’t have much, but he’s seen jongdae whip up cakes out of nowhere enough times to know this is gonna end in something delicious, as long as jongdae hasn’t had too much beer yet.

jongin is dancing outside with yixing matching his every move in what sehun can only guess is some strange sort of mating ritual. there’s not a lot of people dancing, but they don’t seem to care.

minseok is building a card castle because of course he is, and kyungsoo is staring at it very focusedly. since junmyeon’s in chanyeol’s room with a headache, that only leaves sehun, drinking in the living room, and --

“you look bored,” baekhyun drops down on the couch next to him, carrying a very pink drink in his hand, a familiar dumb grin plastered on his face that sehun wants to kiss right off him. the urge to make baekhyun shut up is one as old as time itself, but wanting to achieve it by sucking his face is rather new. sehun is quite okay with this new development though, since baekhyun doesn’t seem to mind it much.

“there’s not enough beer,” sehun says staring sadly at his empty glass while baekhyun makes a disgusting sound slurping his drink through a straw that predictably has a tiny umbrella attached to it. 

“you don’t look like you wanna taste this,” baekhyun says, smacking his lips, and sehun honestly can’t believe himself and the thoughts he’s having, not taking into account the fact that baekhyun’s mouth looks like as if he’d been binging on cotton candy. 

“i really don’t,” sehun grimaces, looking away from baekhyun’s lips so he can stop having unwanted thoughts. it is not the time nor the place, probably. 

there’s a lot of people for how tiny chanyeol’s place is, and it’s starting to get really loud around them. someone’s turned the music up, and sehun doesn’t need to look to know that jongin’s forgotten he’s supposed to be shy, judging by the distant cheering he hears over the music and knows can only be for whatever terrible thing jongin is doing with his hips. the kitchen competition has quieted down, which he figures must mean jongdae has put something in the oven and now everyone’s waiting around. minseok isn’t at the table anymore, though he’s left behind a very tall castle of cards that everyone is very careful to skirt around because no one wants to piss him off or, even worse, make him sad.

“i bet you anything he’s gonna burn it,” baekhyun whispers in his ear and wow, sehun hadn’t even noticed him getting this close. 

“when has jongdae ever burnt anything,” sehun says, trying to pretend like he didn’t just get shivers from turning around and finding baekhyun’s eyes sparkling millimeters away from his face.

“well,” baekhyun leans back against the couch, and sehun isn’t disappointed. he really isn’t. not at all. “minseok had exactly three beers while he was making that castle, and then he got up and walked into the kitchen with that very determined look on his face. jongdae’s a lost cause.”

sehun raises an eyebrow, glancing at the kitchen though he can’t see anything from where he’s sitting. he could say something about jongdae having more focus than baekhyun thinks. he could even make a joke about how not everyone is as easily distracted by the promise of a hook up as baekhyun clearly is, judging from previous experience. he could subtly lead the conversation towards where he wants it to go, or just keep up the friendly banter and not get himself into trouble.

baekhyun grins at him, and they’ve been friends for so long, all of those options seem ridiculous. he kisses him instead. baekhyun gasps into it and before he knows it, sehun is being pushed against the couch, while baekhyun very skillfully throws a leg over his. he tastes of strawberries, sweet and intoxicating, with a dash of rum that sehun suspects is behind how very quickly baekhyun forgets that they’re in public and that the party is way too quiet for him to be straddling him like this in the middle of the living room.

sehun has known baekhyun for approximately a year and a half now, since jongin reluctantly agreed to let him meet his friends from work. baekhyun doesn’t even work at the cafe, but he comes in a package deal with jongdae, or so sehun was informed by baekhyun within the first five minutes of them knowing each other. he’d introduced sehun to everyone even though jongin had already done that, and he’d been rather obviously trying to be funny but sehun can keep up a straight face most of the time, if he’s really working on it. it had been hilarious to watch baekhyun pull out all of his tricks, especially because jongin had been cracking up so hard he was almost in tears. sehun hadn’t expected baekhyun to read this attitude of his as him playing hard to get, and he most definitely hadn’t expected him to take it as some sort of challenge, but ever since, baekhyun had been very set on getting sehun’s attention and he’d used even the most unconventional methods, such as inviting himself over to sehun’s place and dropping by with chinese food at the most random times. 

it had worked, and if baekhyun’s plan that sehun had thought was about becoming his friend had actually been about getting into his pants, then it had really, really worked -- and it was about to work again.

(except this time baekhyun hadn’t really done anything, but sehun would rather not think about that just yet.)

 

 

 

 

_ 09.34 am _

_ baekhyunnieee <3<3 _

hey

hey jongdae

jongdae

are u out there

_ 09.36 am _

do u mean am i in my own house

yes

_ 09.36 am _

_ baekhyunnieee <3<3 _

do u think u could leave

_   09.37 am _

are u kicking me out of our house :(

all these yrs mean nothing to u

_ 09.37 am _

_ baekhyunnieee<3<3 _

i have someone over please????

_ 09.38 am _

oh

i thought it was sehun???

_ 09.40 am _

_ baekhyunnieee<3<3 _

it is

_ 09.40 am _

why do i have to leave then

i can make breakfast for all of us

_ 09.44 am _

_ baekhyunnieee<3<3 _

i know u can

ur breakfast is the best breakfast 

but

ias

iasfgh

idk

_ 09.45 am _

i’ll be at minseok’s <3

_ 09.45 am _

_ baekhyunnieee<3<3 _

thanks

i owe u

_ 09.46 am _

no u dont

love u baekhyunnie

dont burn anything

 

 

 

sehun lets kyungsoo know he’s alive with a very short text, because he’s his roommate and he’s probably worried, but he also probably doesn’t want to know where sehun is unless it’s strictly necessary. he puts his phone back on the bedside table hurriedly when he hears the bathroom door closing, and closes his eyes until he feels the bed dipping under the weight of baekhyun, quietly slipping back under the sheets.

maybe he should’ve left, but baekhyun had fallen asleep so fast and he’s so clingy when he sleeps - clingier than when he’s awake, which is saying a lot - that sehun hadn’t had much of a choice. it’s alright though, he doesn’t think he would’ve wanted to leave while baekhyun was sleeping. they’re friends, he can pretend to wake up in a moment and they can have breakfast casually and maybe even fuck one more time before he has to go home, and everything can be normal. it doesn’t have to get weird. it doesn’t have to involve feelings. god, sehun hopes it doesn’t involve feelings, because he’s not looking for anything serious, even if he has been thinking of baekhyun rather recurringly lately, and not just since they hooked up. it started when they first met, probably. but that doesn’t matter.

he stirs a little and opens one eye, finding baekhyun deeply asleep again even though it’s already half past ten in the morning. it’s alright. they can have lunch instead.

in the end, he leaves baekhyun’s place right before dinner, and with baekhyun’s number safely saved in his contact list. sehun hadn’t expected baekhyun to have it in him to be smooth about getting his number, really, but then he’d started saying something about how sehun was about to go walking back home on his own and how was baekhyun supposed to sleep peacefully tonight if he wasn’t sure if he’d made it back in one piece or if he’d been kidnapped by elves. 

so now they have each other’s number, and sehun worries about the implications of it for a whole minute before his phone beeps.

 

19.45

_ byun baekhyun _

so what are u wearing

 

he snorts before pocketing his phone. clearly this is still about the same thing it was about when it first started, and it’s good. sehun can work with this. 

 

 

 

it isn’t until they’re actually sitting in the waiting room that baekhyun realizes maybe it isn’t the most normal thing to ask his booty call dash sort of friend to come with him to this thing, but it’s too late to back out now. if it was anything else, he would’ve asked jongdae, but he’s not a huge fan of things involving blood. baekhyun has other friends, but he just so happened to be texting sehun the night before when he remembered he had to come get blood drawn for a test.

“when you asked if i had any plans today, i didn’t exactly expect this,” sehun says, looking up from his phone and raising an eyebrow at baekhyun when he catches him staring. he’s so skillful with his eyebrows, baekhyun can’t look away.

“not everything i say is related to sex, despite what you may think,” baekhyun replies a bit too loudly, causing at least three people to send glares their way. sehun snorts, and okay, baekhyun is at least 90% of the time talking about sex, especially when it’s sehun he’s talking to. he gets why in this particular occasion sehun thought his question would lead to hooking up - every single time he’s asked before, it was some sort of booty call, and they were basically sexting when he interrupted to ask if sehun had spare time this morning. however, he’s not willing to admit to any of those things.

“that old lady just gave you such a dirty look, i’m pretty sure she’s saying a prayer for your soul under her breath right now,” sehun whispers, leaning in closer to him.

“please, my soul is fine,” baekhyun rolls his eyes, glancing at the lady. “do you think i can talk her into praying for my white blood cells to turn up high instead?”

“they’re not supposed to be high,” sehun says, and baekhyun would’ve expected him to be condescending about it but instead he’s just giving him a serious look. “like, you said it’s just a check up? so if they’re high it means something was wrong and they multiplied themselves to defend you from something.”

it takes baekhyun a solid fifteen seconds to remember sehun studies something that starts with bio and ends with another natural science he thinks might be chemistry but he’s not quite sure, and that would be why he knows these things. or maybe everyone knows these things but baekhyun, that happens to him very often, but sehun is now explaining something about blood cells and though baekhyun wanted to keep up, he’s tuned it out in favor of staring at his face and appreciating how good talking about these things that he clearly enjoys knowing about looks on him.

“you’re not paying attention,” sehun says, snapping baekhyun out of his trance, but he doesn’t seem offended. there’s some fondness in the way he’s watching baekhyun, and this is all too much for anyone to process before ten am.

“yeah, i was,” baekhyun states, digging through his brain for something it may have picked up from what sehun was saying. “i was just trying to make sure i don’t forget the other blood cells should be around but not in a crazy amount. see, i was listening,” he adds, sticking his tongue out for good measure.

“i’m not usually a nerd, something about labs brings it out,” sehun laughs, looking a little embarrassed. it’s cute. baekhyun doesn’t know what to do with him being cute out here, in public.

“oh good, because i have enough nerds in my life as it is,” baekhyun jokes. “i can accept it if you’re a low key nerd, though, but that’s as far as i’ll go.”

“what a relief,” sehun deadpans, but he’s somewhat softer this morning, his sarcasm sounds too light and baekhyun kind of wants to hold his hand. it’s disgusting, really. “don’t you study like, maths or something nerdy like that?”

“as i said, i already have enough nerds in my life, myself included,” baekhyun nods and he can’t even try to conceal his infinite joy at sehun remembering his major. this is bad, everything about this is bad, he should back out right now so the lines between friends with benefits and wanting to kiss sehun’s nose stop getting so blurred. he needs to stop this. right now. 

“they just called your name,” sehun says, gesturing with his head towards the door. “you’re buying me breakfast after this, right?”

“i have to go in there and let myself be pinched by someone in that terrible cult of yours and then i have to treat you? after such an act of bravery?” baekhyun groans, but he’s still grinning so it doesn’t really work out like he intended. “fine. but don’t get used to it.”

sehun hums happily under his breath as he goes back to scrolling through his phone, and baekhyun takes a deep breath. maybe this will be alright. maybe he won’t cry when they pinch him with a needle, and if he can be brave for that, maybe he can be brave for other things as well.

 

 

 

(in the end, sehun pays for breakfast before baekhyun can even whine dramatically about it. it’s cute, how he keeps doing that when sehun’s seen what a caring hyung he is. it’s one of his favorite things about baekhyun, how very subtle about looking out for others he is - not that he has a lot of favorite things about him, or that he’s keeping count of them. if he were, though, the list would be getting so much longer as the days go by. it’s scary, and yet sehun walks baekhyun home, holding his hand just for safety since baekhyun keeps pretending he’s about to faint.)

 

 

 

 

there’s only two chapters left in his book, but the second baekhyun sits on the couch next to him, jongdae knows he’s not gonna be finishing it today. he puts the book down and baekhyun takes it as an invitation to wrap himself up around him like a blanket, hiding his face in the crook of jongdae’s neck and letting out what jongdae could swear is a purr (it wouldn’t be the first time).

“if i ask you a question that’s sort of related to minseok, do you promise not to get all gross and cheesy?” baekhyun asks once he’s settled comfortably in his octopus-like position, arms and legs tangled with jongdae’s.

“do you want to know how i knew i was in love?” jongdae singsongs, pulling away so he can laugh at the face baekhyun makes at him.

“see, you’re already being gross,” baekhyun sighs, but he’s not serious about it. jongdae knows for a fact that baekhyun is the group’s number one ballads fan, and no one listens to that many romantic songs unless they secretly enjoy the concept. “i was going for something a little more simple actually, like - how did you know you wanted to be more than friends? please don’t tell me it was because you realized you were in love because that’s dumb and won’t help me at all.”

“of course it wasn’t,” jongdae rolls his eyes, reaching out to thread his fingers through baekhyun’s hair, letting him fall back against his shoulder. “i don’t think it happened like that - it was more like, i felt things were easy and i kind of panicked because i’d always expected relationships to be a lot of trouble but instead we’d sort of fallen into a nice rhythm, and it felt right. it felt like i could do it forever - and then when we started dating properly, i knew i was in love because i realized i really, really wanted to do it forever.”

“that was very disgusting to hear,” baekhyun mumbles, but it’s weak and jongdae can’t help but smile a little because he can hear baekhyun’s thoughts running wild as if he was thinking them himself.

“sorry, i just wanted you to know that i don’t think it feels like love right away - love, you get when you start building something together, or at least that’s how it happened for me. but if it feels like the right thing to do, then you should think less about it and just do it,” jongdae says quietly, and baekhyun does nothing but breathe in response. “plus, you’re being absolutely ridiculous about this, it’s not like you’re thinking of asking for his hand in marriage okay, just go ask the guy on a real date and get it over with.”

“hey,” baekhyun says, aiming for offended but falling short. he sits up, looking at jongdae like he’s trying to see through him, which he’s always been able to do because jongdae does what he’s doing now -- he sits back and lets him. “it’s different, i don’t know. i don’t wanna think about why.”

“you /really/ like him, it’s not that hard to see why it’s different,” jongdae offers, and baekhyun frowns like he’s going to answer with some witty comeback, but when he opens his mouth he realizes he’s got nothing.

 "will you buy me ice cream if he says no,” he asks at last, and jongdae laughs because he’s bought baekhyun ice cream at least five times in the past year alone, but just in case, he nods. 

 "as much as you need.”

 

 

 

(when baekhyun texts to ask if he wants to see a movie, sehun gets a tiny bit excited. just a little. it sounds serious, and he’s actually considering wearing his real date clothes, when baekhyun texts him again to let him know jongdae isn’t home, and the ten winky faces he adds at the end of it are enough for sehun to know it’s not a real date. it’s fine. it’s not like he wanted it to be, anyway.)

 

 

 

“i’d like to start this off by thanking all of you for coming so quickly,” baekhyun claps his hands as he stands up, successfully cutting the idle chatter going on around him and getting all eyes on him.

“you said it was an emergency with like, a billion exclamation marks,” jongin says, rolling his eyes like he thinks baekhyun might have exaggerated. poor fool. he doesn’t know the terrible state the world is in. 

“yes, i did say that, because we do in fact have an emergency in our hands,” baekhyun nods, doing his best to ignore the bored look jongin is giving him. whatever. he’s just annoyed because baekhyun has been sort of casually dating his best friend for exactly ten days and they’ve run into him in exactly two of their three dates so far. if he can even call them dates. he planned on asking sehun to do things more officially, but he’s been waiting for the right time, and the right time would be when he knows for sure sehun won’t laugh at him for asking. 

“is this about jongdae,” chanyeol starts asking, and baekhyun’s honestly had enough of his friends ruining his dramatic moment the one time that something dramatic is actually happening.

“this is about jongdae,” baekhyun hurries to say before chanyeol’s finished asking. he looks to sehun for some boyfriend-like reassurance, but he’s playing some game on his phone. “actually, this is about jongdae and minseok.”

“what,” junmyeon actually looks up from the book he’d been reading, and baekhyun’s satisfied because /that/ got their attention. “nothing is ever wrong with jongdae and minseok, what do you mean this is about them?”

“see, this is really an emergency,” baekhyun says triumphantly. he should probably not be feeling victorious at such a terrible moment in everyone’s lives, but he can’t help it. it only lasts a second, because then he remembers what made him decide an intervention was needed. “as you know, jongdae and minseok have been the most stable thing in any and all of our lives, the only relationship any of us has any real faith in-” chanyeol makes an offended noise at this, but kyungsoo is curiously silent. baekhyun agrees. “if you think about it, jongdae and minseok are basically like our parents.”

“didn’t you and jongdae-” chanyeol starts saying, and jongin snorts which breaks the serious atmosphere baekhyun had been carefully building until now. it’s fine, if they want to hear the horrifying news like this, then so be it.

“they’re /fighting/,” baekhyun states dramatically, once again cutting chanyeol off before he’s done ruining the moment. everyone falls silent, and baekhyun is pretty sure the only reason jongin hasn’t started crying yet is because he’s expecting baekhyun to tell them it’s all a joke. jongdae and minseok are kind of paternal towards baekhyun sometimes, but to jongin - he’s surprised they haven’t tried to legally adopt him yet. “it all started when we went to that party at chanyeol’s and i kind of ended up kicking jongdae out because of reasons that are of public knowledge so i shall not waste our time repeating them. the next day, jongdae came home with a back ache, which i didn’t think much of, but then it happened again last week, also after jongdae had gone sleep over at minseok’s. and then yesterday, the same thing happened, and i was giving him a very nice massage when he finally mentioned he thought it was because he’d been sleeping /on the couch/.”

the story’s way too long for baekhyun to sustain his dramatic tone all the way until the end, but the facts are so shocking it still causes an impact. it’s ridiculous, really, baekhyun can’t even imagine a world in which jongdae isn’t seriously committed to minseok, even though he knew him before they were like this. still, once they started dating, everything fell into place so nicely, and baekhyun’s heart would shatter if something happened with them.

(he’s being silly about this, making it sound like he’s worried about himself even in his own head, because the other option is seriously considering how jongdae would react to that and he just - he can’t. jongdae’s his best friend. his other half. his rock, his anchor, whatever other stupid metaphor one could ever think of. and he’d be /broken/. baekhyun will be there if anything happens, like he’s always been, but his heart’s already aching for his friend.)

“this is terrible,” kyungsoo says slowly, the first one of them to get out of the shocked state they all went into. “but - did you get us here because you think we can fix it? do you think we should intervene in other people’s relationship just because we happen to agree they are good together?”

baekhyun hesitates, and this time he does find sehun looking at him when he looks back for moral support. it’s all he needs.

“yes.”

“so what do we do?” kyungsoo asks, still serious as ever, and baekhyun lets out a breath. he knew he could trust them, but for a second there, he’d been worried he’d have to do it on his own.

“well, i think we should stage an intervention,” he says, his plan only half formed in his mind but developing as he speaks. “possibly sit the two of them together somewhere that’s not too public or too private, when they’re not expecting it, so we could force them to talk it out.”

it’s not a very good plan, but it’s the only plan they’ve got, baekhyun knows they’re all thinking that. he’s glad no one’s said it out loud, because as aware as he is of the weaknesses in his plan, it’s still /his/. even if he just thought of it right now.

“we should have code names,” baekhyun starts again, and now everyone’s raising their eyebrows at him. “for when we’re trying to get them to the place, so they don’t suspect anything - we’ll keep it simple, you can call me eagle one. junmyeon will be mom.” 

someone sighs, but baekhyun is determined.

“chanyeol’s been there, done that,” baekhyun grins at chanyeol, who high fives him, causing yet another groan from jongin who seems to be forever embarrassed he knows them. “sehun’s currently doing that, jongin’s it happened once in a dream -” jongin’s turning an interesting shade of pink, and yixing looks vaguely interested. baekhyun considers waggling his eyebrows at jongin, but this is a serious thing they’re doing. he needs to behave. “uh, yixing, if i had to pick a chinese guy - and kyungsoo will be eagle two.”

“oh, thank god,” kyungsoo breathes out, and he looks so relieved baekhyun’s offended.

baekhyun’s about to start brainstorming the details of the plan when there’s a noise at the door, and it suddenly occurs to him that maybe he shouldn’t have held this meeting at his house when jongdae also happens to live there and had his last class of the day like two hours ago.

“honey, i’m home,” jongdae calls out from the door, and baekhyun ignores sehun’s pointed look in favor of looking around the room in despair. he could say they’re planning a surprise party for him, even though jongdae’s birthday isn’t for another three months. or he could just take the chance to sit him down and ask him how he’s feeling, in front of everyone they know. that sounds good too. “my neck’s been killing me all day, do you think you could -”

jongdae stops right in the middle of the living room, looking a bit confused. 

“were we doing something today? because minseok’s busy so he must’ve forgotten too, if we had plans?” he asks, scratching the back of his head. he looks so small and helpless, baekhyun wants to hug him - so he does.

“we weren’t sure if you’d want him here,” he says quietly, so the others don’t hear if jongdae wants to pretend everything’s alright. at first he goes pliantly into the hug, but when he hears what baekhyun’s saying he shakes his arms off his waist. 

“oh my god,” jongdae’s voice goes a bit high, and his eyes seem to have grown three sizes. “is this about the couch thing, because i told you already nothing was wrong.”

baekhyun shakes his head at him sadly, he can understand why he’s in denial - he’s in denial himself.

“i know you never tell me when things are wrong because you think you’re protecting me or something, but you can tell me about this, i’ll help,” baekhyun offers, suddenly feeling like the room is way too overcrowded for how intimate the conversation has turned.

“baekhyun,” jongdae says gently, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder like baekhyun’s the one who needs comforting. “minseok’s babysitting his sister’s cat for this month, until she finds a new apartment, and the kitten’s a tiny furious ball of fur who keeps kicking me out of bed so i crash on the couch when that happens because i don’t want to disturb any of them while they’re sleeping.”

it’s such a ridiculous and obvious explanation, baekhyun feels a little ashamed of himself. he shouldn’t have ever doubted true love.

“so you’re not fighting? and you’re alright?” he asks, trying really hard to ignore the fact that there’s six people staring at them right now.

“i’m fine, thank you for worrying about me,” jongdae smiles warmly at him. “i promise if anything’s ever wrong between me and minseok, you’ll be the first to know - you’d be the first person i’d come to if i needed help, you have to know that.”

“i do,” baekhyun smiles back, though he doesn’t mind being reassured of that. it’s nice, how jongdae’s grinning at him like he did something nice for him even if all he did was make a fool out of himself.

“now i’m gonna keep on pretending you didn’t plan an intervention or whatever it was you were doing with all of these people who won’t stop staring at us, and i’m gonna go take a shower,” jongdae keeps on talking just as calmly, but baekhyun can see his eye twitch a little and okay, he’s right about being a little annoyed. baekhyun did go behind his back and all that.

after everyone’s done their fair share of rolling their eyes and being sarcastic at baekhyun, they go home or to whatever important thing they’d been neglecting for this. 

sehun remains, though, and baekhyun glances at him with apprehension as he closes the door behind yixing and jongin. he’s the one he’s known the shortest time - except for yixing, but baekhyun knows he’d have to do something truly disastrous for yixing to think anything even close to negative of him. sehun seems to be less inclined to think the best of people at all times under any circumstances, and baekhyun just did a very lame thing. even if it was for a good cause and he felt it was right at the time, he can see how it might look to sehun and, well. it was good while it lasted. 

“that was sweet,” sehun says when baekhyun sits on the arm of the couch he’s sitting on, and another second passes before he looks up from his phone and stares straight at baekhyun. “slightly paranoid, but sweet.”

baekhyun doesn’t know what to say. for once, he has no words. he was so ready for sehun to laugh or say a number of things, but none of them were even close to what he’s just said. he certainly didn’t expect sehun to be looking at him this earnestly while calling him /sweet/.

“i can be sweet, if i want to,” baekhyun says with what comes out as a nervous giggle. sehun gives him a small smile, but he’s still looking at him so intensely, like he’s seeing something different, something new in baekhyun he hadn’t seen before.

“you’re a really good guy, byun baekhyun,” sehun says at last, grabbing baekhyun’s hand and pulling him closer until he’s on his lap. “it’s a shame you haven’t got the nerve to properly ask me out, you know, because i wouldn’t mind dating you for real.”

baekhyun punches his shoulder, and sehun isn’t enough of a gentleman to even pretend to wince, but it’s alright. baekhyun can forgive him, now that he’s said the magic words. 

“i was just waiting for my next blood analysis,” he says with a grin, making himself comfortable on sehun’s lap. it’s nice how he’s the oldest in the relationship yet he fits perfectly here, like sehun was made for him. “but i suppose if you’re so eager, i could take you out to do something else.”

“are you going to ask me to come with you to some nerdy maths thing?” sehun says, sounding like he’s regretting his life choices, but the grin on his face betrays him.

“oh, definitely, i already did you the favor of going to a lab, now we’re gonna go sit in front of a computer and you can watch me run codes and do some integrals,” baekhyun waggles his eyebrows, making sehun laugh, which in turn makes his stomach do a weird flip thing inside him. 

“how sexy,” sehun hiccups, putting an arm around baekhyun’s waist, keeping him close. “is that what you do then, integrals?”

he’s asking like he wants to hear about it, and baekhyun shifts a little so he can look at him as he starts talking. his stories about hasse diagrams are thrilling, baekhyun’s aware, but he’s not used to getting this much attention. sehun laughs at his maths joke, and baekhyun’s heart skips a beat - maybe he’s ready to start having faith in more than one relationship.

 

 

 

sehun didn’t necessarily expect baekhyun to be on time, but it’s been over forty minutes and he’s not a very patient person. they’ve been out so many times before, he knows by now baekhyun does have a tendency to say he’s on his way when really he’s just brushing his teeth, but considering this is their first official date he kind of expected him to be twenty minutes late, at most.

the fact that he’s waited this long is an obvious sign of how stupidly much he likes baekhyun, as much as it pains him to admit it. kyungsoo passes through the living room again and gives him a pitying look - sehun would be offended, but he knows he’s just being empathic since he is dating park chanyeol after all.

another five minutes pass before someone knocks rapidly at his door, just when sehun was on the verge of giving up and texting jongin to see if he wanted to play LOL. he takes his time opening up because he’s slightly petty sometimes, but when he finally does it he forgets absolutely every negative thought he had in the past forty five minutes. 

“i’m sorry i’m late, i got held up at work,” baekhyun starts saying, and then he goes on talking but he’s speaking way too fast and sehun is - well, he thinks the right word might be ‘enraptured’ but he’s not sure. baekhyun looks disheveled, his hair an absolute mess and sticking up in different directions like he’s been pulling at it. he’s wearing glasses, which is the main reason sehun’s brain seems to have stopped working entirely, and also he seems to be done talking because he’s staring at sehun and giving him puppy eyes and god. this relationship is not gonna be healthy for him. 

“did you hear any of what i just said?” baekhyun asks, and then he seems to remember he’s the one at fault here because he turns the puppy look back on and sehun feels almost blinded by it. “are you mad? i promise i tried my best to get here earlier.”

“that’s alright,” sehun manages to say, nodding and taking a step back so baekhyun can get out of the hallway. “you look like you’ve had a long day though, don’t you wanna stay in? we can order something and like, turn on the tv.”

baekhyun stands against the door looking seriously distressed about having to make this choice. sehun can almost see the wheels in his mind turning, because they did plan this date for a while and it took them forever to actually have a serious conversation about having a serious date and they’ve both been looking forward to it, but he clearly doesn’t want to be around people right now.

“come on, take off your shoes before kyungsoo sees you,” sehun nudges him, making the decision for him. he can see baekhyun’s eyes go wide at the mention of sehun’s roommate, because they’ve never stayed at his place while kyungsoo is around since that one first hook up. sehun felt weird about it, but now it just feels kind of right. “it’s fine, really, he’ll have to get used to it anyway.”

it’s hilarious how all of baekhyun’s emotions are so clearly written across his face when he’s tired, like being worn out makes him so much more transparent and sehun watches him light up like a puppy that’s been given a new toy. it’s cute, and it kind of makes sehun want to kiss him - then he remembers he can, so he does. baekhyun melts against him, instantly falling back against the door and putting one hand on the back of sehun’s neck to keep him close.

he meant to just give him a kiss before going inside, but baekhyun is so soft and pliant it’s way too easy to keep on kissing him and it lasts longer than he intended. when he finally pulls away, baekhyun is smiling at him and looking a lot less likely to pass out than he did five minutes ago. he’s also got one of his shoes in his hand, and only his toes in the other one, and when sehun sees this he can’t help but snort.

“you kind of took me by surprise,” baekhyun defends himself, still grinning. sehun wouldn’t mind kissing him again, but maybe once he’s taken off both his shoes.

“we were gonna go to a pizza place, so we could just get a pizza, yeah?” sehun offers as they walk into the living room.

“are you sure you don’t mind?” baekhyun asks hesitantly, and sehun rolls his eyes, grabbing his hand to pull him to the spot next to him on the couch.

“i’ll take that as a yes, sehun, do order a pizza,” sehun says while pulling out his phone to make the order. baekhyun scoots up closer and closer until he’s nearly on his lap. sehun’s never had a cat, but he figures this is probably what it must be like. "is kimchi alright?"

“i’ll take you on a very fancy date next time,” baekhyun starts saying, resting his head on sehun’s shoulder and ignoring his question. “we’ll go to the fanciest restaurant in town, the kind of place you need to wear fancy clothes to or they won’t let you in, and i’ll come pick you up with /flowers/ in a limo.”

“please don’t,” sehun laughs a little, leaving his phone by the couch and settling in half under baekhyun, putting an arm around his waist just in case he falls asleep and rolls over or something. “i’d much rather hang out here than go anywhere fancy, i don’t know if you’ve noticed but i’m not a very fancy person.”

“you could be, if you wanted to,” baekhyun nods against his neck. “you could be anything if you set your mind to it, oh sehun, i have infinite faith in you, as any good boyfriend should.”

there’s a moment of silence and sehun didn’t intend to go so still at the word, but it caught him off guard.

“about that,” he starts slowly, and baekhyun backs away just a little so he tightens his grip on his waist to keep him in place. “i’ve seen the looks jongdae gives you when you go near a kitchen, so i’m not sure my faith in your ability to achieve things is /infinite/ when it has to do with ovens and fire. i’m sorry, i wasn’t aware it was in the boyfriend contract, i’ll try to make up for it with other things?”

baekhyun clicks his tongue, but even that sounds relieved to sehun. so that’s settled then.

“you’re gonna make a terrible boyfriend,” he says, curling up again in his previous position like he needs sehun’s warmth to survive.

“you can still back out, you know,” sehun hums, slightly amused by how baekhyun is frowning at him even as he’s cuddling him this tight. 

he’s so close, sehun is kind of expecting to get kissed - he’s definitely not expecting baekhyun to bite his arm.

“don’t say stupid things,” baekhyun says casually, as if he hadn’t done anything weird just now. he presses a soothing kiss to sehun’s arm after a moment, and sehun decides to let it go for now. he’s tired. that must be it. “now be a good boyfriend and put on something nice and soothing where there’s lots of people making out but not too much sex because kyungsoo is here and i don’t want to feel tempted to disturb him.”

"you’re so romantic,” sehun deadpans, turning on the tv and scrolling through his netflix catalogue.

“fine, there doesn’t need to be a lot of people making out, just put something and make out with me while it plays so like, something you’re not too invested in?” baekhyun says, shifting so he’s on his knees, looking a lot more awake now that he’s realized kyungsoo is in his room and they still have to wait for the pizza.

(they go back to making out the second they finish the pizza, and two more episodes of daredevil play on the background, unwatched, before baekhyun starts yawning and sehun attempts to send him home, but he’s too quick at getting into his bed and falling asleep and maybe sehun wasn’t trying too hard. he doesn’t mind. as a matter of fact, he’s planning on keeping him for as much as he can.)

 

**Author's Note:**

> as always, [hmu](http://twitter.com/ofstellardust)


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